Senator apologizes for use of racial slur at college meeting

MANSFIELD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut senator has issued a formal apology after she used an anti-black racial slur during a meeting with the University of Connecticut College Democrats.

The student group says Democratic state Sen. Gayle Slossberg used the term during a meeting on Oct. 3. In a statement on Wednesday, the group says she used the word without euphemisms to describe her work removing books with racial epithets from grade school libraries.

Slossberg says she used the word as it appeared in a children's book, and she was trying to convey why the word has no place in society. The senator says she has since sent a formal apology to the club.

The club says the use of the word is "reprehensible" and "unjustifiable" regardless of the context.